Im after a bit of reassurance really as feel like the anxiety is ruining my life.
I have been hypo (hashis) for about 15 years and have pretty much always felt fine.
But......i have read an article regarding reumatoid arthritis and the connection to has his and it has scared the life out of me, i can't eat, sleep or get on with my life due to the severe worry about it. I have had recent bloods done for inflammation, rheumatoid factors and scans etc and they are all ok but i am so scared by this and just need a bit of help if anyone can.
Thanks all for listening to me x
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Janewood
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Just a bit of a 'reality check' , hope it helps.There has always been an association between all the various autoimmune diseases of which Rheumatoid Arthritis is just one. However for those of us who were diagnosed with autoimmune thyroid problems BEFORE anything else 'autoimmune' the likely hood is somewhat less of going on to develop more of them, than it is the other way round. (or at least that's what i read)
So someone with rheumatoid arthritis is more at risk of getting thyroid issues than you are of getting rheumatoid arthritis, if u see what i mean .
Many many people (like me) just get autoimmune thyroid problems , but never go in to get anything else autoimmune , or at least , not anything particularly nasty. (i've had this since 1998 , and never got anything else yet.)
Try and remember the 'risk' hasn't increased just because you found out about it , it's always been there. so try and put your head back to how 'at risk ' you felt before you read it.
And be reassured that you've had a look and they have not found any problems.
There will be plenty of time to worry about it if it ever happens, and if it does there'll be no point worrying then either , cos it will have happened already
Don't spoil the years you have without any another issue , by worrying about 'what if', just be glad you don't have it yet , and quite probably never will.
Or just do what i do when i get worried about something in the future and remind yourself you could quite possibly get hit by a bus this afternoon.
Sometimes i find the only way to deal with anxiety is to make yourself imagine the worst possible case scenario that you are terrified of and think about what you would actually do when it happened..... you realise that you'd just deal with it. The worry itself is so much worse than the reality of dealing with the problem.For a period of time i owned 2 dilapidated buildings, with compromised fire breaks in them due to unfinished renovation work, and neither of them were insured (don't try this at home folks !)
I'd lay awake at night terrified of fire........ in the end i solved the problem by thinking , "oh well even if one of them burned to the ground , it wouldn't happen to both of them , so i'd still have a house , and a building plot ".... it worked a treat ,and i went to sleep.
Jane wood, you are not alone with your anxiety symptoms. I have had this throughout my thyroid journey. I was actually diagnosed with health anxiety & saw a psychotherapist for over a year...only to find from advice in this forum that anxiety is a thyroid symptom & would improve massively when thy medication & key vitamins (folate/ ferritin & Vit D) became optimal. I find magnesium helps me relax on an evening & aids sleep, Pilates & mindfulness also help (I’m a fan of Mark Williams- his books are good but the app is great for guided meditations). I like using aromatherapy (eg Clary Sage for positivity). Talking about my anxiety also helps and recalling how it ‘will pass’ (like a cloud in the sky!)Best wishes to you.
Thanks Buddy i to have health anxiety and ocd. its hard work! Glad your ok at present and i will defo give the vitamins a look! mine were low when last checked xxx
I guessed you had OCD - I have it too. People tend to think that OCD is about the well known problem of constant hand washing or check lights which must be terrible to live with but it also covers the ‘Pure O’ symptoms which are the constant torturing thoughts. Rest assured there is help available and always remember these are just thoughts - nothing else just thoughts . 🙏 be kind to yourself and listen to All the great advice already given here.
If you were feeling a bit achy when you went for the tests, that could be an inadequately medicated hashis thing... I was very achy and the doctor was looking at RA as a reason, but it turned out my fT3 was in the gutter and the cause. I had been asking for them to test it for years!
I have far fewer aches and pains since adding T3 and generally less anxiety. / stress. I am one of those annoying stress-bunny perfectionist sorts!
Ive recently been disgnosed and am also struggling massively with health anxiety worrying about all the other autoimmune conditions I might get. Its horrible isnt it 😩My anxiety definitely gets worse with pmt hormones so now I try to pre-empt it and tell myself it is my hormones talking.
I also imagine the worst case scenario and talk it through.
Its good to know that if we get Hashi's first we are less likely to get others.
I have found that my anxiety disappeared when I optimised my ferritin (iron stores) and serum iron to get them as close to optimal as possible without going over optimal on any of them.
If you haven't had your basic nutrient levels (vitamin D, vitamin B12, folate, ferritin) measured for a while it would be worth getting them tested. If ferritin turns out to be very low in range or below range or very high in range or above range it would be worth getting an iron panel done i.e. something like this :
Most of what people have said below is true. Personally, I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis years before my hashis was diagnosed.
What I can tell you is that even if you were to get Rheumatoid arthritis, it won't be the end of the world.
Anxiety makes fears worse than they actually need to be.
That's not to say arthritis is a walk in the park but you learn to adapt, you learn how to get your inflammation under check and you live a relatively normal life.
There may be flare ups but as long as you are taking extra care in eating a very clean diet that is highly anti-inflammatory like the AIP diet, you follow your doctor's advice and handle stress, you'll be fine.
This is something to really consider - Why allow anxiety for something that hasn't happened to stress your body out so much that it can't thrive and gets damaged?
Being severely anxious about it makes you more at risk of getting sick than actually not worrying about it as much.
I am so sorry to hear of your anxiety attacks. Yes, they are associated with Thyroid disease - I have had them throughout my life and only recently overcome them - through hypno-therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The problem at the outset of Thyroid disease is that we are given so little information by doctors and thus end up finding ourselves on excellent sites like this in order to process what we are going through.
I am Severely hypo - and I firmly believe that it came about through the abuse that I suffered at the hands of my mother when I was very young. Somehow, in order to survive, I buried the memory - it wasn't until much later - in early middle age - that it began to re-emerge. Anxiety was the worst of it - and, when I thought about it at the time, there was so very little to be anxious about!
I suggest one or two things: you need to sleep well - and deeply.
Wind down in the late afternoon: do not eat or drink things that are going to prevent this natural process: avoid stimulants (tea. coffee, alcohol)
Drink Camomile tea with honey, and eat things that will aid sleep. I fast once a week, only consuming the minimum of calories. It rests the stomach and is another way of letting the body find rest. It is helpful for the thyroid too. Check your iron levels and make sure they are in good order.
In order to check your anxiety get some help - ask your GP for a referral to a counsellor for CBT - this will help you to train your mind to avoid certain pathways leading to Anxiety attacks. It is easy and it is very effective. To aid this seek out a good hypno-therapist. This too will help you to ease your worries by getting to the knub of the matter deep within your unconscious.
Anxiety is often caused by something residual in your unconscious - let it out and on its way: this will allow you to meditate and to achieve peace from within. If you cannot find a therapist I know someone who is excellent and a pioneer in the field - very famous and very inexpensive, a kind and considerate person who will help you to be rid of this awful problem. just let me know via a private message and I will contact him and forward his details to you should you wish it. He is based in Surrey, near to Windsor Great Park. He has been recognised by institutions worldwide and his work is on exhibition in the Science Museum: thus he is very respectable - and not a charlatan.
Hi Eloisesupergirl... can I ask you about what you said in terms of the root of anxiety being something in your unconscious thoughts? Did CBT help with this?
Considerably! You need to be ready to solve your underlying problem tough. What I mean by this is that you are ready to let go and to let go of it? I cannot recommend it more highly. Be patient when you are undergoing it - and it is necessary to be very honest with yourself: this allows you to receive some surprises - but also to manage them and to allow you to let go of the things you need to let go of.
Be open minded and do not allow preconditioned prejudices to stop you from discovering the root of your problem. After each session I found myself very relieved and slept like a baby! It also helped in my relationships with others.
So much good advice here, I find Qigong helpful. I aim to do some everyday, even if only a few minutes. Lots of short free routines on t'internet. Or try this... youtu.be/tiby-6_7qsI
Many people with hashimoto’s struggle with anxiety and depression. About half at any one time are on anti-depressants for any number of different reasons: living with a chronic disease is very hard and there ate chemical changes in the brain because of it too.
I would get your levels checked because anxiety can be prompted by under and/or over medication. Make sure you get TSH T3 and T4 tested- it very important to get all three checked.
Re the RA, if you have no symptoms and your RF has come back clear then you’re fine. Try and look at the evidence, the facts, and tell your anxiety part of your brain to go away and be quiet! Works for me!
Try exercise, even just walks can burn off some of your cortisol etc. Make sure you’re getting your 8 hrs sleep too and eating well. No caffeine or alcohol if possible.
Bear in mind as well that we’ve all been through a horrible year with the virus and thats put a far few of us into the wobble camp. And that’s perfect fine. We are human and wobbles are a normal part of life as a human! 💓
If her rf was negative it doesnt mean that she doesnt have ra. Having positive rf blood tests means you are seropositive but sadly there are people whose rf bloods are negative but they have inflammation in bloods and in the joints who are seronegative
I have had hypothyroidism since I was 17 maybe before I felt shocking since I was 12 I'm 47 now but I have anemia and very low ferritin too that makes my anxiety really bad worth checking I have osteoarthritis all over every bone in my body early onset because of hypermotility my two daughters have type 1 diabetes and so does my sister she ypothyroidism too. Anxiety is the worst I am having one right now get a full blood count and ferritin checked xx
I too have Hashimotos, I’ve found following an autoimmune protocol diet and having food allergy testing really has helped me get symptoms under control. Also taking the vitamins that are suggested on this site. Try to live as stress free as you can. Take care of yourself and be kind to yourself by not scaring yourself if you can. This year has been challenging for so many people but seek counselling if your anxiety doesn’t go away. Stay safe.
Hi i want to say a huge thank you to you all. I have been on so many facebook forums etc and all they do is make me worse! im so glad i found this page as its really put things into perspective. You are all lovely people and im so greateful. xx
I can recommend you the book dare, by barry macdonug. This comes with an app and audio too. It's very helpful and the dare is a way of going through your anxiety instead of being afraid of it so you can eliminate it. It's worth a try, for me it helped a lot. Especially with the app as sometimes I got anxious somewhere else and I just listened to it, calms you down after a few seconds! I could say stop worrying but that's not gonna work so Goodluck and I hope this helps.
Ive had hypothyroidism for 22 yrs. I researched and then 18 months ago developed rheumatoid arthritis. I was wondered at first but you just deal with it just like you do with hypothyroidism. Its not a death sentence. Go to see your gp for your anxiety as no one on here is medically trained
Actually the blood tests for ra are not ambiguous. Theres a specific blood test for seropositive and for those who are not seropositive, crp and esr blood tests that show inflammation can be done. They also use mris , xrays and ultra sounds to diagnose.
Thanks for the info Sammie, I did have the full RF bloods, with crp, esr, some + and - etc and scans all was ok so hopefully im ok with that for now. Glad to hear your keeping well.
You would be in a lot of pain if you had ra. I have aggressive ra and i had bone erosion after just 2 months of symptoms in my feet and hands. Hope fully you will know what its like
Sorry to disappoint you but my endocrinologist is a professor and teaches endocrinology at my local university. I have 2 endocrinologists and have both their email addresses and can email them at any time for clarity. Perhaps your endocrinologist is useless but i can only praise mine. Putting down medical professionals is not nice
Then if your not happy, ask for a new one. There are lots of people not allowed to see one so if you dont want to see yours then perhaps discharge yourself and left some one else get some care
Sammie48, I made a comment. I wasn’t asking for advice. Not sure why you’re choosing to rant at me but I don’t waste any endocrinologist’s time. My late husband was badly let down. So please have some respect for the validity of my comment.
Im not ranting thank you but if your unhappy with your endocrinologist then move over and let someone else get treatment that they may appreciate. Advocating herbal remedies is all well and good but you also add that they should seek medical advice before they take it
Sammie48 I told you that my husband’s endocrinologist was rubbish. I don’t see one. I don’t need to see one.
My husband is now dead, in part because our local endocrinologist failed to read the results of a blood test. My husband cannot “move over” although, courtesy of being dead, has freed up an endocrinology spot for someone else and is letting “someone else get treatment that they may appreciate”. Hopefully that meets with your approval.
I made no recommendation about anyone taking herbal remedies—that was someone else. The only comment I made was that our local endocrinologists wouldn’t know what clary sage was. They absolutely wouldn’t.
I don’t think there’s anything more to say. Hope you have a good evening.
Thats why they work with dieticians and can refer you if need be. Taking a herbal remedy is not nutritional , its whether it would interact with your medication , not if its good for you
It is not even clear that GrowingVeg has an endocrinologist.
For many, including me, hypothyroidism is regarded as an issue the GPs should be able to manage without referral. As hypothyroidism is the single most common thyroid issue, it could well be that the majority here have never seen an endocrinologist and would find it a challenge to get to see one.
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